Marijuana and Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

This paper presents the research methodology and findings from an examination of the impacts of acute marijuana use on retinal neuroprocessing. Findings suggest that an individual’s visual system is permanently remodeled if marijuana use occurs before complete development of the visual system, and that adolescent use results in poor response to visual facial emotion. Furthermore, findings indicate that daily, chronic marijuana users react differently to visual spatial driving tasks than occasional users, and the observed difference in the visual system is supported optical coherence tomography imaging. The article concludes that the visual system is an effective biomarker of brain and neuroprocessing, emphasizing that primary care clinicians should understand the dysfunctions in visual systems caused by youth’s marijuana use.